Tip of the day: How to beat a pokie

All pokies consist of a fixed number of spinning reels. A reels rotation starts after you have pushed the Spin button in the pokie controls section. Once the reels come to a stop, certain symbols appear on the paylines of your pokies in a random pattern. Three or more (in some cases, two or more) matching symbols displayed along a payline create a winning combination.

Proceed to play a pokie after reading an embedded paytable that shows winning combinations and payouts. Pay attention that high-valued combinations have more symbols in them (four or five). They are rare to come, but if they do, you get much bigger payouts. Playing progressive machines, bet the maximum number of coins on the maximum number of paylines available. In most progressive pokies, playing at max is the only way to hit a progressive jackpot.

A few tips for pokie players:

Choose pokies with high payback percentages;

Set the largest number of coins per every spin, thus boosting your chances to win a bigger award;

Limit your gaming session duration. Having long game-sitting times increases the house edge and reduces your advantage;

Set your gambling bankroll to an affordable amount for each session and do not exceed that limit. If you have reached your loss limit, finish betting and leave;

Be careful when configuring coin sizes and the number of credits per spin when playing for real cash. Betting five one-dollar coins in a fifty-payline pokie means playing $250 per each spin, so stay focused;

Avoid playing progressive pokies if you are not looking toward hitting a progressive.